Multiplex approach to the photometric detection of planets

If the hypothesis is correct that most solar-like stars have planetary systems and have planets in inner orbits, then approximately 1% of these stars should have planets with orbital planes close enough to our line of sight to show transits. To get a statistically significant estimate of the fraction of stars that have planets in inner orbits, it is necessary to monitor thousands of stars continuously for a period of several years. To accomplish this requires the use of a multi-channel photometer system. We present here several multi-channel methods that have been used for ground-based observations and a concept for applying multi-channel photometry to the detection of numerous Earth-sized planets.Paper presented at the Conference onPlanetary Systems: Formation, Evolution, and Detection held 7–10 December, 1992 at CalTech, Pasadena, California, U.S.A.     

Regularity of Extrasolar Planetary Systems and the Role of the Star Metallicity in the Formation of Planets (Review)

The discovery in 1995 of the first extrasolar giant planet 51 Peg b initiated the physics of extrasolar planetary systems. By May 2004, the total number of the detected planets orbiting other stars was 122, including 24 hot jupiters, which have a semimajor axis of the orbit of less than 0.15 AU. Due to the high activity of researchers who work with the radial-velocity method, the probable candidates, say, in the 75-parsec radius, are quickly exhausted. The OGLE-type objects, even if their number increases, may only slightly contribute to the physics of extrasolar planets (or exoplanets), because even to determine the type of the companion (a giant planet, brown dwarf, or star of small mass) is extremely problematic for such weak objects. A search for Earth-like planets is still far beyond the technical capabilities: the Keplerian velocity of the Sun induced by the Earth is only 0.09 m/s, which requires to improve the results obtained by a factor of 20–30. Particularly important results were obtained in the observations of transits of the object HD 209458b, which became the only object of this type namely due to transits. The hope of finding another short-period object with similar transits is becoming less and less. The important role of the star metallicity in the formation of planetary systems predicted during the first years after the discovery of exoplanets has gained recognition and been developed successfully. Metallicity has become an indicator of the possible presence of planetary systems and, probably, even determines the type of planets. This review also considers the statistical data on the orbital and mass characteristics of exoplanets.     

The Kepler Mission: Astrophysics and Eclipsing Binaries

The Kepler Mission is a photometric space mission that will continuously observe a single 100 square degree field of view (FOV) of the sky of more than 100,000 stars in the Cygnus-Lyra region for four or more years with a precision of 14 parts per million (ppm) for a 6.5 hour integration including shot noise for a twelfth magnitude star. The primary goal of the mission is to detect Earth-size planets in the habitable zone of solar-like stars. In the process, many eclipsing binaries (EB) will also be detected. Prior to launch, the stellar characteristics will have been determined for all the stars in the FOV with K<14.5. As part of the verification process, stars with transits (about 5%) will need to have follow-up radial velocity observations performed to determine the component masses and thereby separate grazing eclipses caused by stellar companions from transits caused by planets. The result will be a rich database on EBs. The community will have access to the archive for uses such as for EB modeling of the high-precision light curves. A guest observer program is also planned for objects not already on the target list.     

内日冕的绿线强度分布研究

日冕是太阳大气活动的关键区域,是日地空间天气的源头.受观测限制,对日冕低层大气等离子体结构和磁场状态的研究非常欠缺,国际上对于可见光波段日冕低层大气的亮度分层研究很少.利用丽江日冕仪YOGIS(Yunnan Green-line Imaging System)的日冕绿线(Fe_ⅩⅣ5303?)观测资料,对内日冕区域(1.03R_☉-1.25R_☉,R_☉表示太阳半径)亮结构及其中冕环进行了有效的强度衰减分析.对亮结构的强度在太阳径向高度上进行了指数衰减拟合,比较这些拟合结果发现所得到的静态内冕环的衰减指数在一固定值附近.然后将比较明显的冕环提取出来,通过对不同高度的绿线强度进行指数拟合,得出的衰减指数与亮结构中也比较相近,这对进一步研究日冕中的各项物理参数演化提供了参考.     

Metallicity of Sun-like G-stars that have Exoplanets

By considering the physical and orbital characteristics of G type stars and their exoplanets, we examine the association between stellar mass and its metallicity that follows a power law. Similar relationship is also obtained in case of single and multiplanetary stellar systems suggesting that, \(\hbox {Sun}^{\prime }\)s present mass is about 1% higher than the estimated value for its metallicity. Further, for all the stellar systems with exoplanets, association between the planetary mass and the stellar metallicity is investigated, that suggests planetary mass is independent of stellar metallicity. Interestingly, in case of multiplanetary systems, planetary mass is linearly dependent on the stellar absolute metallicity, that suggests, metal rich stars produce massive (\(\ge \)1 Jupiter mass) planets compared to metal poor stars. This study also suggests that there is a solar system planetary missing mass of \({\sim }\)0.8 Jupiter mass. It is argued that probably 80% of missing mass is accreted onto the Sun and about 20% of missing mass might have been blown off to the outer solar system (beyond the present Kuiper belt) during early history of solar system formation. We find that, in case of single planetary systems, planetary mass is independent of stellar metallicity with an implication of their non-origin in the host star’s protoplanetary disk and probably are captured from the space. Final investigation of dependency of the orbital distances of planets on the host stars metallicity reveals that inward migration of planets is dominant in case of single planetary systems supporting the result that most of the planets in single planetary systems are captured from the space.     

The photometric method of extrasolar planet detection revisited

We investigate the geometry concerning the photometric method of extrasolar planet detection, i.e., the detection of dimunition of a parent star's brightness during a planetary transit. Under the assumption that planetary orbital inclinations can be defined by a Gaussian with a of 10° centered on the parent star's equatorial plane, Monte Carlo simulations suggest that for a given star observed at an inclination of exactly 90°, the probability of at least one Earth-sized or larger planet being suitably placed for transits is approximately 4%. This probability drops to 3% for a star observed at an inclination of 80°, and is still 0.5% for a star observed at an inclination of 60°. If one can select 100 stars with a pre-determined inclination 80°, the probability of at least one planet being suitably configured for transits is 95%. The majority of transit events are due to planets in small-a orbits similar to the Earth and Venus; thus, the photometric method in principle is the method best suited for the detection of Earthlike planets.The photometric method also allows for testing whether or not planets can exist within binary systems. This can be done by selecting binary systems observed at high orbital inclinations, both eclipsing binaries and wider visual binaries. For a real-world example, we look at the Centauri system (i = 79°.2). If we assume that the equatorial planes of both components coincide with the system's orbital plane, Monte Carlo simulations suggest that the probability of at least one planet (of either component) being suitably configured for transits is approximately 8%.In conclusion, we present a non-exhaustive list of solar-type stars, both single and within binary systems, which exhibit a high equatorial inclination. These objects may be considered as preliminary candidates for planetary searches via the photometric method.Paper presented at the Conference onPlanetary Systems: Formation, Evolution, and Detection held 7–10 December, 1992 at CalTech, Pasadena, California, U.S.A.     

The outcome of the protoplanetary disk of very massive stars

We suggest that planets, brown dwarfs, and even low mass stars can be formed by fragmentation of protoplanetary disks around very massive stars (M ? 100 M_⊙). We discuss how fragmentation conditions make the formation of very massive planetary systems around very massive stars favorable. Such planetary systems are likely to be composed of brown dwarfs and low mass stars of ～0.1–0.3 M_⊙, at orbital separations of ～ few × 100–10⁴ AU. In particular, scaling from solar-like stars suggests that hundreds of Mercury-like planets might orbit very massive stars at ～10³ AU where conditions might favor liquid water. Such fragmentation objects can be excellent targets for the James Webb Space Telescope and other large telescopes working in the IR bands. We predict that deep observations of very massive stars would reveal these fragmentation objects, orbiting in the same orbital plane in cases where there are more than one object.     

The photometric method of detecting other planetary systems

The photometric method detects planets orbiting other stars by searching for the reduction in the light flux or the change in the color of the stellar flux that occurs when a planet transits a star. A transit by Jupiter or Saturn would reduce the stellar flux by approximately 1% while a transit by Uranus or Neptune would reduce the stellar flux by 0.1%. A highly characteristic color change with an amplitude approximately 0.1 of that for the flux reduction would also accompany the transit and could be used to verify that the source of the flux reduction was a planetary transit rather than some other phenomenon. Although the precision required to detect major planets is already available with state-of-the-art photometers, the detection of terrestrial-sized planets would require a precision substantially greater than the state-of-the-art and a spaceborne platform to avoid the effects of variations in sky transparency and scintillation. Because the probability is so small of observing a planetary transit during a single observation of a randomly chosen star, the search program must be designed to continuously monitor hundreds or thousands of stars. The most promising approach is to search for large planets with a photometric system that has a single-measurement precision of 0.1%. If it is assumed that large planets will have long-period orbits, and that each star has an average of one large planet, then approximately 10⁴ stars must be monitored continuously. To monitor such a large groups of stars simultaneously while maintaining the required photometric precision, a detector array coupled by a fiber-optic bundle to the focal plane of a moderate aperture (≈ 1 m), wide field of view (≈50°) telescope is required. Based on the stated assumptions, a detection rate of one planet per year of observation appears possible.     

Photometric search for extrasolar planets

The searches for extrasolar planetary systems by different methods based on the photometric monitoring of stars are reviewed. The search for extra-solar planets is, more or less consciously, the first step toward the search for other Minds in the Universe. A rational approach leads to the search for planets where structures with high complexity can emerge. In absence of any positive indication, it is safer to start this search by looking for planets within the habitable zone around main sequence stars where liquid water can be present. Of course, even if this future goal would fail, the detection of terrestrial planets would contribute to the characterization of other planetary systems and would constitute an interesting astrophysical goal by itself.     

Radial velocity searches for other planetary systems:Current status and future prospects

Measurement of variations in the radial velocities of stars due to the reflex orbital motion of the star around the planetary-system barycenter constitutes a powerful method of searching for substellar or planetary mass companions. After several years of patient data acquisition, radial-velocity searches for planetary systems around other stars are now beginning to bear fruit. In late 1995 and early 1996, three candidate systems were announced with Jovian-mass planets around solar-type stars. The current paradigm for low-mass star formation suggests that planetary systems should be able to form in the circumstellar disks surrounding young stellar objects. These newly discovered systems, and other discoveries which will soon follow them, will test critically our understanding of the processes of star- and planet-formation. We review the techniques used in these radial-velocity searches and their results to date. We then discuss planned improvements in the surveys, and the prospects for the next 20 years.     

系外行星系统掩星周期变化研究进展

在掩星法发现的系外行星系统中,如果存在其他未知的伴星绕同一颗恒星运动,掩星行星由于受到伴星引力的影响,运动轨道将发生变化,轨道周期不再是常数,而是变化的。利用这种变化探测掩星系统中的其他行星,已成为一种新的方法。主要介绍了未知行星与掩星行星之间的引力作用引起的掩星周期变化效应,以及掩星周期变化法探测系外行星的理论和研究进展状况,最后简要讨论了几种影响掩星周期变化的其他因素:共轨行星、卫星、潮汐效应、相对论效应及恒星的引力四极矩等。     

Effect of the rotation and tidal dissipation history of stars on the evolution of close-in planets

Since 20 years, a large population of close-in planets orbiting various classes of low-mass stars (from M-type to A-type stars) has been discovered. In such systems, the dissipation of the kinetic energy of tidal flows in the host star may modify its rotational evolution and shape the orbital architecture of the surrounding planetary system. In this context, recent observational and theoretical works demonstrated that the amplitude of this dissipation can vary over several orders of magnitude as a function of stellar mass, age and rotation. In addition, stellar spin-up occurring during the Pre-Main-Sequence (PMS) phase because of the contraction of stars and their spin-down because of the torque applied by magnetized stellar winds strongly impact angular momentum exchanges within star–planet systems. Therefore, it is now necessary to take into account the structural and rotational evolution of stars when studying the orbital evolution of close-in planets. At the same time, the presence of planets may modify the rotational dynamics of the host stars and as a consequence their evolution, magnetic activity and mixing. In this work, we present the first study of the dynamics of close-in planets of various masses orbiting low-mass stars (from \(0.6~M_\odot \) to \(1.2~M_\odot \)) where we compute the simultaneous evolution of the star’s structure, rotation and tidal dissipation in its external convective envelope. We demonstrate that tidal friction due to the stellar dynamical tide, i.e. tidal inertial waves excited in the convection zone, can be larger by several orders of magnitude than the one of the equilibrium tide currently used in Celestial Mechanics, especially during the PMS phase. Moreover, because of this stronger tidal friction in the star, the orbital migration of the planet is now more pronounced and depends more on the stellar mass, rotation and age. This would very weakly affect the planets in the habitable zone because they are located at orbital distances such that stellar tide-induced migration happens on very long timescales. We also demonstrate that the rotational evolution of host stars is only weakly affected by the presence of planets except for massive companions.     

The origin and nature of Neptune-like planets orbiting close to solar type stars

The sample of known exoplanets is strongly biased to masses larger than the ones of the giant gaseous planets of the Solar System. Recently, the discovery of two extrasolar planets of considerably lower masses around the nearby Stars GJ 436 and ρ Cancri was reported. They are like our outermost icy giants, Uranus and Neptune, but in contrast, these new planets are orbiting at only some hundredth of the Earth-Sun distance from their host stars, raising several new questions about their origin and constitution. Here we report numerical simulations of planetary accretion that show, for the first time through N-body integrations that the formation of compact systems of Neptune-like planets close to the hosts stars could be a common by-product of planetary formation. We found a regime of planetary accretion, in which orbital migration accumulates protoplanets in a narrow region around the inner edge of the nebula, where they collide each other giving rise to Neptune-like planets. Our results suggest that, if a protoplanetary solar environment is common in the Galaxy, the discovery of a vast population of this sort of ‘hot cores’ should be expected in the near future.     

The potential for Earth-mass planet formation around brown dwarfs

Recent observations point to the presence of structured dust grains in the discs surrounding young brown dwarfs, thus implying that the first stages of planet formation take place also in the substellar regime. Here, we investigate the potential for planet formation around brown dwarfs and very low-mass stars according to the sequential core accretion model of planet formation. We find that, for a brown dwarf mass 0.05 M_⊙, our models predict a maximum planetary mass of  ∼5   M_⊕  , orbiting with semimajor axis ∼ 1 au. However, we note that the predictions for the mass–semimajor axis distribution are strongly dependent upon the models chosen for the disc surface density profiles and the assumed distribution of disc masses. In particular, if brown dwarf disc masses are of the order of a few Jupiter masses, Earth-mass planets might be relatively frequent, while if typical disc masses are only a fraction of Jupiter mass, we predict that planet formation would be extremely rare in the substellar regime. As the observational constraints on disc profiles, mass dependencies and their distributions are poor in the brown dwarf regime, we advise caution in validating theoretical models only on stars similar to the Sun and emphasize the need for observational data on planetary systems around a wide range of stellar masses. We also find that, unlike the situation around solar-like stars, Type II migration is totally absent from the planet formation process around brown dwarfs, suggesting that any future observations of planets around brown dwarfs would provide a direct measure of the role of other types of migration.     

Upper limits on the hot Jupiter fraction in the field of NGC 7789

We describe a method of estimating the abundance of short-period extra-solar planets based on the results of a photometric survey for planetary transits. We apply the method to a 21-night survey with the 2.5-m Isaac Newton Telescope of ∼32 000 stars in a ∼0.5 × 0.5 deg² field including the open cluster NGC 7789. From the colour–magnitude diagram, we estimate the mass and radius of each star by comparison with the cluster main sequence. We search for injected synthetic transits throughout the light curve of each star in order to determine their recovery rate, and thus calculate the expected number of transit detections and false alarms in the survey. We take proper account of the photometric accuracy, time sampling of the observations and criteria (signal-to-noise ratio and number of transits) adopted for transit detection. Assuming that none of the transit candidates found in the survey will be confirmed as real planets, we place conservative upper limits on the abundance of planets as a function of planet radius, orbital period and spectral type.     

Planetans—oceanic planets

The development of principles, systems, and instruments enable the detection of exoplanets with 6–8 Earth masses or less. The launches of specialized satellites, such as CoRoT (2006) and Kepler (2009), into orbits around the Earth have enabled the discovery of new exoplanetary systems. These missions are searching for relatively low-mass planets by observing their transits over the disks of their parent stars. At the same time, supporting studies of exoplanets using ground-based facilities (that measure Keplerian components of radial velocities) are in progress. The properties of at least two objects discovered by different methods, Kepler-22 and GJ 1214b, suggested that there was another class of celestial bodies among the known types of extrasolar planets: planetans, or oceanic planets. The structure of Kepler-22 and GJ 1214b suggest that they can be these oceanic planets. In this paper, we consider to what extent this statement is valid. The consideration of exoplanet Gl 581g as an oceanic planet is more feasible. Some specific features of the physical nature of these unusual planets are presented.     

UV habitable zones around M stars

During the last decade there was a change in paradigm, which led to consider that terrestrial-type planets within liquid-water habitable zones (LW-HZ) around M stars can also be suitable places for the emergence and evolution of life. Since many dMe stars emit large amount of UV radiation during flares, in this work we analyze the UV constrains for living systems on Earth-like planets around dM stars. We apply our model of UV habitable zone (UV-HZ; Buccino, A.P., Lemarchand, G.A., Mauas, P.J.D., 2006. Icarus 183, 491–503) to the three planetary systems around dM stars (HIP 74995, HIP 109388 and HIP 113020) observed by IUE and to two M-flare stars (AD Leo and EV Lac). In particular, HIP 74995 hosts a terrestrial planet in the LW-HZ, which is the exoplanet that most resembles our own Earth. We show, in general, that during the quiescent state there would not be enough UV radiation within the LW-HZ to trigger the biogenic processes and that this energy could be provided by flares of moderate intensity, while strong flares do not necessarily rule-out the possibility of life-bearing planets.     

A SuperWASP search for additional transiting planets in 24 known systems

We present results from a search for additional transiting planets in 24 systems already known to contain a transiting planet. We model the transits due to the known planet in each system and subtract these models from light curves obtained with the SuperWASP (Wide Angle Search for Planets) survey instruments. These residual light curves are then searched for evidence of additional periodic transit events. Although we do not find any evidence for additional planets in any of the planetary systems studied, we are able to characterize our ability to find such planets by means of Monte Carlo simulations. Artificially generated transit signals corresponding to planets with a range of sizes and orbital periods were injected into the SuperWASP photometry and the resulting light curves searched for planets. As a result, the detection efficiency as a function of both the radius and orbital period of any second planet is calculated. We determine that there is a good (>50 per cent) chance of detecting additional, Saturn-sized planets in   P ∼  10 d orbits around planet-hosting stars that have several seasons of SuperWASP photometry. Additionally, we confirm previous evidence of the rotational stellar variability of WASP-10, and refine the period of rotation. We find that the period of the rotation is  11.91 ± 0.05  d, and the false alarm probability for this period is extremely low  (∼10⁻¹³)  .     

Computer simulations of planetary accretion dynamics: Sensitivity to initial conditions

We have tested the implications and limitations of Program ACRETE, a scheme based merely on Newtonian physics and accretion with unit sticking efficiency, devised by Dole in 1970 to simulate the origin of the planets. The dependence of the results on a variety of radial and vertical density distribution laws, on the ratio of gas to dust in the solar nebula, on the total nebula mass, and on the orbital eccentricity, ?, of the accreting grains are explored. Only for a small subset of conceivable cases are planetary systems closely like our own generated. Many models have tendencies toward one of two preferred configurations: multiple-star systems, or planetary systems in which Jovian planets either have substantially smaller masses than in our system or are absent altogether. But for a wide range of cases recognizable planetary systems are generated, ranging from multiple-star systems with accompanying planets, to systems with Jovian planets at several hundred astronomical units, to single stars surrounded only by asteroids. Many systems exhibit planets like Pluto and objects of asteroidal mass, in addition to usual terrestrial and Jovian planets. No terrestrial planets were generated more massive than five Earth masses. The number of planets per system is for most cases of order 10, and, roughly, inversely proportional to ?. All systems generated obey a relation of the Titius-Bode variety for relative planetary spacing. The case with which planetary systems are generated using such elementary and incomplete physical assumptions supports the idea of abundant and morphologically diverse planetary systems throughout the Galaxy.     

On the Stability of the Terrestrial Planets as Models for Exosolar Planetary Systems

All results, achieved up to now, show the long term stability of our planetary system, although, especially the inner solar system is chaotic, due to some specific secular resonances. We study, by means of numerical integrations, the dynamical evolution of the planetary system where we concentrate on the stability of motion of the terrestrial planets Venus, Earth and Mars. Our model consists of a simplified planetary system with the inner planets Venus, Earth and Mars as well as Jupiter and Saturn. A mass factor was introduced to uniformly change the masses of the terrestrial planets; Jupiter and Saturn were involved in the system with their actual masses. We integrated the equations of motion with a Lie-integration method for a time interval of 10⁷ years. It turned out that when 220 < < 245 and > 250 the system became unstable due to the strong interactions between the planets. We discuss the model planetary systems for small mass-factors 0.5 10 and large ones 160 270 with the aid of several different numerical tools. These results can be applied to recently discovered exoplanetary systems, which configuration is comparable to our own.